Witch
Witches or Warlocks are humans who are gifted in the magic arts of witchcraft, sorcery, and wizardry, but those that study it are wiccans. Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. Historically, it was widely believed in early modern Christian Europe that witches were in league with the Devil and used their powers to harm people and property. Particularly since the mid-20th century, 'bad' and 'good' witchcraft are sometimes distinguished, the latter often involving healing. The concept of witchcraft as harmful is normally treated as a cultural ideology, a means of explaining human misfortune by blaming it either on a supernatural entity or a known person in the community. Beliefs in witchcraft, and resulting witch-hunts, are both found in many cultures worldwide, today mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and historically notably in Early Modern Europe of the 14th to 18th century, where witchcraft came to be seen as a vast diabolical conspiracy against Christianity, and accusations of witchcraft led to large-scale witch-hunts, especially in Germanic Europe. The "witch-cult hypothesis", a controversial theory that European witchcraft was a suppressed pagan religion, was popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the mid-20th century, Witchcraft has become the self-designation of a branch of neopaganism, especially in the Wicca tradition following Gerald Gardner, who claimed a religious tradition of Witchcraft with pre-Christian roots. Types of Witches A lot of the time witches are connected with a certain religion - though wiccan religions may vary - that is based around performing rituals and spells. In short, anyone (regular humans, even vampires and demons) can cast a spell and produce magic. However, those with experience and devoted understanding towards magic are called wiccans. Traditional Traditional magic is what many call the basic but most pure form of magic. It is what most witches use - power from the earth/nature and peaceful spirits to generate power. Traditional magic often involve talismans or other elements with mystical energies such as the moon and the sun. Family Lineage (Traditional) Some witches have the innate gift of magic passed down through generations, giving them certain powers. If witchcraft is in their lineage, they have the potential of becoming very strong with enough practice. For example the Bennett family has a history of strong witches and they are known for their mystical power. Bonnie Bennett have steadily shown signs of strength as time goes on. One could be granted innate magical power, however, without family lineage, such in the case of Willow Rosenberg. Ancestral Magic Ancestral magic directly draws from the power of past anscestors who have died. Witches who practice this magic must stay in close to where their anscestors are buried otherwise they are powerless. Traveller Magic Travellers are a subculture of witches. It is removed from Traditional magic (the basic kind that uses spirits and nature). Travellers are much like gypsies - as they drift from place to place most of the time. All spells and incantations are performed in a different language outside of English. Travellers are known for their powers in spirit possession - jumping from body to body, and manipulating the body from the inside in various ways to inflict pain or change. It appears as if Traveller Magic is also a form of group magic - in which spells are cast with many people as opposed to just one. Gypsy Magic Gypsies move from place to place just like Travellers. They are much more secretive and elusive than the Travellers however. They are often known for curses and hexes (like ones that restores and removes souls). This subculture of witches use both traditional and non-traditional magic to achieve what some may believe are over-the-top tricks and abilities such as glamour/illusion spells, the most advanced can perform shapeshifting, create a mystical thrall, and teleportation to name a few. Gypsies with these abilities are extremely rare - which is what makes someone like Dracula such an anomaly, outside of the fact that vampires cannot have natural magic abilities. Necromancers Some level 4 witches are powerful enough to control the essence of the dead, especially vampires. Using powerful, draining, and skilled dark magic, they can affect the physical corpse (including vampires) through telekinesis or control/destroy the essence that makes vampires animated. They are also able to affect the minds of vampires, either causing them to have amnesia or influencing them like glamour or compulsion can on humans. It is an extremely powerful form of necromancy that can bring the dead back to life. Expression Magic Expression magic isn't necessary black magic - but black magic can be a subset of it (as it is not natural magic). Expression magic, essentially, is said to be worse than black magic. It is any magic not bound to the spirits of nature. It can be in and of itself, limitless and can exceed the abilities of a level 4 witch. It is extremely easy to lose control with expression magic, and it is extremely easy (more so than black magic) to get addicted to. Using too much of it can ultimately kill the user because it severally opposes the laws of nature. Expression magic requires three mass sacrifices (of a group of specific species. For examples, one sacrifice of vampires, one sacrifice of humans, one sacrifice of witches) for a witch obtain power. The more sacrifices, the more power the witch obtains. If the sacrifices occur at certain locations (creating an expression triangle) - the middle of that triangle will have immense mystical energies a witch can draw from. Excessive use of this magic, although it is not bound by nature, still has consequences. If the witch isn't strong enough or is unable to contain this amount of power, it can have adverse effects on the body. The power can be too much and can kill them. The power can shift into undesireble forms, much like black magic. Demonic Magic Some magic traditions, such as Brujería - common in latin american sects, use sacrifices of living beings (such as animals) for rituals that will call upon demonic spirits, drawing power from them or using their spirits to do their bidding. Any magic that calls on demonic energies or beings can is a part of this category. It is actually easier than one might think for a non-witch to access this sort of magic through rituals and other means, perhaps doing traditional magic spells wrong. Spell Casting Many spells are recorded in spellbooks/grimoires. These are often needed for reference, especially for complicated spells with intricate instructions. Many spells require incantations to be recited, most often in an ancient language such as latin. Talismans are often used to contain a magic spell or a curse. This can be anything, including: stones, jewelry, statues, tattoos, weapons, amulets, etc. Covens Covens are a collection of Wiccans and witch who gather to practice their religion among themselves , some coven partake in religious ceremonies such as the drawing down the moon and drumming, visualization, chanting, singing, dancing, and meditation in order to induce a higher state of mind and have a stronger connection to the supernatural entities they prey to. the most common number of witches and Wiccan in a coven is usually thirteen but the number varies with different covens. covens also serve another more important purpose ,it has been seen that when a spell is cast by a coven or by more than one person it is magnified to act much faster and be more potant than it would have been if casted by a single witch. Powers Magic'' is the influencing of events by supernatural means. Magic can often be split into dark and light, though depending on the situation, can also be neutral. Magic is a genetic heredity that connects witches to the elements and forces of nature. *'''Conjuration: The act of calling, commanding, or summoning an object, person, or spirit already in existence. *'Elemental Control:' The act of controlling and manipulating the elements of air, earth, fire, water, and weather. *'Channeling:' The act of channeling or drawing other forms of energy and power by focusing on celestial events. *'Necromancy:' The act of controlling and manipulating the power of death and controlling undead corpses. *'Pain Infliction': The act of creating and inflicting excruciating pain upon another person, especially supernatural beings. *'Mind Control': The act of controlling and manipulating the minds of Humans. *'Mind Stunning:' The act of bemusing and rendering someone unconscious. *'Precognition': The act of foreseeing future events and happenings. *'Clairvoyance:' The ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses. *'Telepathy:' The ability to read the minds of other people. *'Mediumship:' The act of calling, communicating, and invoking the spirits of the dead. *'Glamour:' The ability to create an illusion so real that it is to fool any on-looker. *'Invocation: '''The act of calling the spirits of the dead or divine beings into a circle or into the self. *'Spell Casting:' The act of changing and controlling events by magical influence. *'Superhuman Strength: Invoking demons or other spirits, can give witches great strength, making them phyically powerful then normal humans. *'''Spiritual Sensing: The ability to feel spiritual activity. *'Levitation:' The act of floating, flying or rising ones body in the air by supernatural means. *'Telekinesis:' The act of controlling and manipulating the movements of objects and persons. *'Healing': The act of curing diseases and restoring the health of living beings. *'Witches Brew:' The act of brewing and concocting supernatural elixirs and potions that contain mystical properties. Tools *'Book of Shadows/Grimoires: '''Witches document their spells, rituals and recipes in books called grimoires or "Book of Shadows". *'Amulets and Talismans: Witches use material items that can act as an amulet or a talisman. *'''Stones & Herbs: Witches use stones and herbs to aid them as they have a magical entity. *'Candles: '''Witches use candles to draw energy from the flames and also enhance their spells. *'Athame:' A blessed, double-edged blade used to draw blood for spells/rituals. Weaknesses All magic from spells must come from somewhere. So no matter how powerful the witch is innately, it is difficult to perform complex and extreme spells without a power source. All spells expend a certain amount of energy from the caster, which may or may not drain the body in a physical manner. Some powerful spells, if the witch is not strong enough, may harm or kill them (anything from headaches, nosebleeds, unconsciousness, severe exhaustion or fatal sickness). This result might occur if the witch is doing too much magic in a short amount of time without rest. Spells contain a large margin of error as well. If spells aren't preformed right, they can create undesirable results or not work at all. Concentration is a must. Simply put, ALL magic has consequences and many witches do not take this concept lightly. There are many ways to disrupt/avoid a spell as well. *Breaking/Destroying/Removing a talisman. *Harming a mystical body involved *Breaking a mystical sequence *Casting a counter-spell *Interrupting spell casting *Some magics cannot reach all beings due to some discrepancy. For instance a spell might not affect a person because he/she is dead/has no soul/have special abilities of their own. Magic Addiction Some witches can suffer from magic addiction - becoming dependent on using magic and casting spells, all the time. Some might argue that it is the addiction to the power of magic that makes it unhealthy. Such an addition will cause the witch to crave spells that are way outside their means, which may harm themselves or others. Magic addition often leads the wiccan to more 'liberal' and dangerous uses of magic, such as black magic. Black Magic Fiddling with black magic is not for the inexperienced. This type of magic draws energy from dark powerful forces and almost always have undesirable consequences - especially if handled by a low leveled witch. One such consequence may result in a loss of control - the dark forces might take a mind of its own and will do more destruction than desired if the wiccan cannot contain the magic. A powerful witch might lose control of themselves when dealing with black magic. If they use too much dark magic, the dark forces will overcome them - creating an immensely powerful, mystically driven, but dangerous and destructive version of themselves. A witch overcome by dark forces will go on a downhill tirade, losing sight of their usual moral beliefs and aiming only to kill and destroy. Black Magic Witches Some witches have dabbled in black magic since they've been practicing by selling their souls in order to get the magic from dark demons. All of their magic stems from demonic forces, and though they are able to handle these forces easier (so that they arren't controled by them) their souls are forever compromised because of it. Salt is a weakness for those effected with Black Magic, reaching to the dark powers controlling the witch. It can torture and prevent magic from interfering with anything being protected by it. Gallery Bonnie.png|Bonnie performing a false reversal spell 2006 tamara 015.jpg|Love Binding Ritual 600px-MarnieLovemeWhyDyin.png|Necromancy Bonnie and Luka.jpg|Disempowered Spell Bound.jpg|Binding Spell File:Spell.png|Cleansing ritual Hollyarlene forestceremony.jpg|Abortion Remedy Wiccan4.jpg|Blood Sacrifice Tumblr l8fe55ADwa1qbodb1o1 r1 500.png|Invocation 589px-Boxspell.png|Possession Spell Bvseviqjfucfbig.jpg|Levitation Spell Bald.jpg|Alopecia Spell Skeletonkey.jpg|Caroline performing a spell of protection Tbs4wsucks5017.jpg|Spell to Restore Memory True-Blood-Soul-Of-Fire Jesus-and-Lafayette.jpg|Exorcism of Marnie Stonebrook Marnie.jpg True45.jpg|Incantation of the Sun Virginritual.jpg|Virgin sacrifice Tumblr lkr3s6mkRI1qc0fwzo1 500.gif|Bonnie using the elemental forces to stop Klaus (click for animation) Tumblr lc0id3TnxV1qealwto1 400.gif|Incendia (click for animation) The-craft-the-craft-22282713-1920-1080.png Fire-300x169.jpg|Extracting Dark Magic (The Secret Circle) Tumblr m46p8lPc3i1rw3i7vo3 1280.jpg|Dark Magic Vd-bonnie-jeremy.jpg|Desication Spell ThCAUDGXFH.jpg|Liberation Spell Spell.jpg|A Protective Spell Tracydavis.jpg|Invoking Samhain donna.png|Donna eating a soul donna2.png|Donna using her abilities SPN_06485.jpg James-Frampton.jpg|Astral Projection Cove4.png|Chase's eye blackout when using the power. (click for animation) Cove3.png|(click for animation) Cove2.png|Chase impersonates Caleb. (click for animation) Cove.png|Caleb dreams of Sarah being stalked. (click for animation) Covenatnt energy.png The-covenant z.gif The-covenant y.gif The-covenant u.gif The-covenant i.gif Ritual.jpg The-covenant a.gif Luma covenant 01.jpg Covenant8.jpg 060908 covenant hmed 2p hmedium.jpg Covenant.jpg|Chase summoning a Darkling. Witches_of_East_End_S01E03.jpg|Ingrid performing a spell gone wrong. Ku-xlarge.jpg| Spellcasting.png| Freya.png|Freya brewing a potion The_originals_2.jpg|Davina practicing her magic The-originals-davina-shows-power-to-klaus-after-being-threatened-by-him-o.gif|Davina shows her power to Klaus after being threatened by him. The-originals-davina-makes-elijah-choke-on-blood-o.gif|Davina makes Elijah choke on blood. The-originals-davina-makes-klaus-semi-turn-o.gif|Davina makes Klaus semi-turn. Known Witches and Warlocks Chrmed.jpg|Prue Halliwell (Charmed) Piper.jpg|Piper Halliwell (Charmed) Phoe.jpg|Phoebe Halliwell (Charmed) W/w.jpg|Paige Matthews (Charmed) The_craft2.png|Sarah Bailey (The Craft) Nancy downs.jpg|Nancy Downs ''(The Craft) Rochelle--large-msg-113728560197-2.jpg|Rochelle Gordon (The Craft) Neve Craft.jpg|Bonnie Daniels (The Craft) 2006 tamara 011.jpg|Tamara Riley (Tamara) Willow_Rosenberg.jpg|Willow Rosenberg (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) Tara.jpg|Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Amy.jpg|Amy Madison (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) Amymom.jpg|Catherine Madison (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) Bonnie-bennett-style.jpg|Bonnie Bennett (Vampire Diaries) Liv.jpg|Liv Parker (The Vampire Diaries) Luke.jpg|Luke Parker (The Vampire Diaries) True-blood-marnie78.jpg|Marnie Stonebrook (True Blood) 173px-Witcher.jpg|Jesus Velasquez (True Blood) 222px-Antonia promo.jpg|Antonia Gavilán de Logroño (True Blood) 435px-LaLaSeason4Promo1.png|Lafayette Reynolds (True Blood) 221px-Ts4holly.jpg|Holly Cleary (True Blood) 418536-aiden kater large.jpg|Aidan Kater (Devour) 253px-JesusGrandpaMain.png|Don Bartolo (True Blood) Secrt.jpg|Cassie Blake (The Secret Circle) Diana.jpg|Diana Meade (The Secret Circle) Faye.jpg|Faye Chamberlain (The Secret Circle) Mel.jpg|Melissa Glaser (The Secret Circle) Adam.jpg|Adam Conant (The Secret Circle) Nick.jpg|Nick Armstrong (The Secret Circle) Jake.jpg|Jake Armstrong (The Secret Circle) Adam-Brody-Jennifer-s-body-adam-brody-10618435-1280-720.jpg|Nikolai Wolf (Jennifer's Body) Jonas.jpg|Jonas Martin (Vampire Diaries) 499px-Dp011.jpg|Luka Martin (Vampire Diaries) 355px-Greta2.jpg|Greta Martin (Vampire Diaries) Charismasmaggie.jpg|Maggie Stark (Supernatural) DonStarkWitch.png|Don Stak (True Blood) 591px-DTVD-207-1922.jpg|Lucy Bennett (Vampire Diaries) Maddox.jpg|Maddox (Vampire Diaries) Bree.jpg|Bree (Vampire Diaries) Eota9.jpg|Gloria (Vampire Diaries) Ashley-benson.jpg|Tracy Davis (Supernatural) Lirio.jpg|Lirio (The Craft) 258px-Valentine 5.jpg|Lee Labeque Screen image 182417.jpg|CeCe (Venom) Eastwick-jamie-ray-newman.jpg|Kat Gardener (Eastwick) ThumbnailCA1JDHM8.jpg|Roxie Torcoletti (Eastwick) 117436 572 ful.jpg|Joanna Frankel (Eastwick) Donna.jpg|Donna Gilchrist JF.png|James Frampton (Supernatural) Spencer.png|Spencer (Supernatural) 3675997 std.jpg|Caleb Danvers (The Covenant) Chase.png|CHase Collins (The Covenant) pogue.png|Pogue Parry (The Covenant) reid.png|Reid Garwin (The Covenant) ImagesCAOOO0RF.jpg|Tyler Simms (The Covenant) JaneAnne.jpg|Jane Anne Devereaux (The Originals) Sophie.jpg|Sophie Devereaux (The Originals) Davina.jpg|Davina Claire (The Originals) TOW.jpg|Esther (The Vampire Diaries) Mdev.jpg|Monique Devereaux (The Originals) The_originals.jpg| Bastiana (The Originals) Agnes.jpg|Agnes (The Originals) The_originals_3.jpg|Sabine (The Originals) Originals.jpg|Celeste Marie Helene Dubois (The Originals) East_end.jpg|Joanna Beauchamp (Witches of East End) East_end_2.jpg|Wendy Beauchamp (Witches of East End) East_end_3.jpg|Ingrid Beauchamp (Witches of East End) East_end_4.jpg|Freya Beauchamp (Witches of East End) East_end_5.jpg|Penelope Gardiner (Witches of East End) East_end_6.jpg|Dash Gardiner (Witches of East End) East_end_7.jpg|Killian Gardiner (Witches of East End) East_end_8.jpg|Victor (Witches of East End) Fiona.jpg|Fiona Goode (American Horror Story: Coven) Zoe.png|Zoe Benson (American Horror Story: Coven) AmericanHorror_Bio_EmmaRoberts.jpg|Madison Montgomery (American Horror Story: Coven) Sarah-paulson-as-cordelia-2.jpg|Cordelia Foxx(American Horror Story: Coven) Misty.png|Misty Day(American Horror Story: Coven) Nan.jpg|Nan (American Horror Story: Coven) Queenie.png|Queenie (American Horror Story: Coven) Category:Supernatural Category:Magic Category:Witches Category:Humans Category:Creatures